1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a watch guard device.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a one piece watch guard that forms an integral unit with the watch.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The U.S. Pat. No. 1,657,559 to Taylor relates to a watch holder in which a watch is placed and suspended from a belt or suspender strap.
The U.S. Pat. No. 1,657,559 to Taylor teaches a watch holder that consists of a pocket having a rear wall 1 and a front wall 2. These walls are formed from leather blanks having their marginal portions turned inwardly, and sewed together. The front and rear walls, when sewed together, form a pocket that is open at its top and is of a size to receive the watch 4. The front and rear walls of the pocket are lined with a soft material so that if a gold or other valuable watch is placed in the pocket it will not be scratched. A portion of the front wall is cut out to provide a flap 7 adapted to be moved from the closed position to an opened position so that the face of the watch is exposed to view.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,511,105 to Fenyvessy relates to watch holders.
Because of its convenience, the wrist watch has been widely adopted by men. There are many men who work at occupations, however, such as in a photographic dark room, where it is necessary to put the hands constantly into water or into a developer where wearing a wrist watch is not practical. There are other occupations where a wrist watch may easily be damaged while at work by striking a wall or other hard object. For men working in such industries, the ordinary watch and chain for the vest is not satisfactory either.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,511,105 to Fenyvessy teaches a watch holder 10 that has three fabric straps 11, 12, and 13. These straps are fastened together at their ends. Rows of stitches 15 and 16 are used for this purpose. The row of stitches 15 is removed from the adjacent ends of the straps 11, 12 and 13 for a tab 19.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,635,416 to Mietchen relates to protective enclosures for wrist watches.
Mechanics or other workmen subject a wrist watch to exposure in places where grease, dust or other contaminating substances are likely to be encountered.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,635,416 to Mietchen teaches a protective enclosure 10 that consists of a base 11 and a recessed cover 12 which engages the base 11 so as to form a separable housing structure. The two ends of the base are notched for engagement by the usual strap 14, which is used to fasten the watch to the wrist of the wearer.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,998,695 to Cornett relates to a wrist watch and band protector.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,998,695 to Cornett teaches a device which is adapted to be adjusted and fitted on the wrist before a watch and its band are applied. The watch and band are then circumposed on the device which is closed around the watch and the band.
The device 10 consists of a wrist watch band enclosing component 12, and a watch enclosing component 14. The component 12 is composed of two substantially similar sections 16 and 18, which are in the form of circumferentially elongated, generally rectangular sheets of flexible material, having inner or first ends 20 and 22, respectively, and outer or second free ends 24 and 26, respectively.
The watch enclosing component 14 consists of a single rectangular sheet of flexible material, substantially wider than the sections 16 and 18. The inner ends of the sections 16 and 18 are secured to and extend from opposite ends of the component 14, by imposing on the upper surface 28 of the component 14 and secured thereon, by suitable means.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,117 to Parris relates to a jacket which is fashioned from a sheet of suitably bendable rubber and has a front cover flap which is separably fastened to a rear backing flap, the latter flap being interiorly provided with a relatively small stirrup-like loop for attaching and suspending the watch between the flaps.
Stainless steel and analogous waterproof watches if subjected to certain acids, even for a month or so, are vulnerable to the effects of tarnish, soon get out of order, will not run properly, and eventually stop running altogether. With the exception of woodworkers, carpenters and cabinet makers for example, virtually all construction workers use acid of one kind or another. For instance, painters use salsoda, ammonia, muratic acid, acetone and the like. Melting metals such as lead, zinc and steel throw off deleterious acid-laden fumes which when combined with perspiration can be and are damaging to component watch parts.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,117 to Parris teaches an elongated normally flat cut-out rubber sheet 6. This sheet when spread flatwise is six inches more or less in length but be proportionately enlarged for large size watches. The sheet is one piece construction and of uniform thickness from end to -end. The sheet has a substantially rectangular central body portion with tapering end portions. The central body portion can be two and one-half inches wide at its widest part. A bendable fold line 8 divides the sheet into a first half-portion and a second half-portion.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,219 to Anderson relates to a wrist watch protector that consists of a flexible wrist encircling band for covering the watch with a centrally located opening for viewing the face of the watch. A quick-opening flap secured to the top of the wrist band covers the watch crystal. Utilization of a watch-carrying band strap located between the band and the flap allows the protector to optionally serve as a watch band by threading the strap through the bracelet attaching pins carried by the watch body.
In recent years wrist watches have come to be recognized more as articles of jewelry than as time-pieces. People at all economic levels own wrist watches of original artistic designs which often contain precious metals or precious stones. Frequently, a wrist watch is the only piece of jewelry which a man will wear, and often is the subject of great pride to the owner.
Many people engage in activities where damage to a wrist watch may occur. Carpenters, plumbers, painters, iron workers, welders, and others working in a building trade constantly expose their wrist watches to abrasion and blows. Construction and factory workers may also be exposed to acid, alkali or other chemicals which can damage the metal finish or etch away the glass or plastic crystal.
Fumes or excess moisture can easily penetrate the watch casing and corrode or otherwise deleteriously effect the inner working of the watch. Even people who do not have physically active jobs frequently expose their watches to damage when working around the house. The risks of damage to expensive watches are well known, and many attempts have been made in the past to protect watches from these damages.
In general, wrist watch protectors have fallen into two types; a first variety of cuff-type wraparound protectors which simply fit over the watch on the wrist, and a second tube type protectors into which the watch is placed, with the whole assembly placed on the wrist.
Representative of the first variety are the wraparound devices of Williams, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,249,550, Dressen, U.S. Pat. No. 2,344,136 and Karpf, U.S. Pat. No. 1,857,195. These devices are generally slip-on covers which seal the watch against intrusions of water and dirt. Hucknall, U.S. Pat. No. 2,584,270 shows a combination of a wrap around elastic bracelet with a hard plastic shield through which the face of the watch can be seen.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,553,089 also discloses a wraparound bracelet having a transparent face through which the watch can be seen. The bracelet itself is decorative as well as protective.
Protective devices which completely enclose the watch may cover the total of the watch or only a portion thereof. For example, Schreiber, U.S. Pat. No. 1,767,315 discloses a protective cover which buckles around the face of the watch leaving the strap intact. A device which encloses the face is and a portion of the band is shown in Vedder, U.S. Pat. No. 2,182,830. Tubular devices where the watch is completely enclosed in the protective cover prior to placing on the wrist of the wearer are shown in Bradbury, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,076,221 and Friedman, U.S. Pat. No. 2,227,131. Another type of protector is shown in Cornett, U.S. Pat. No. 2,998,695 which discloses a wide band which is placed on the wrist of the wearer before the watch is put in place. After placing the watch on his wrist, the wearer then rolls side flaps which exist on the band over the top of the watch,.attaching the flaps together with snaps and forming a protective cover.
Still other protective coverings have required removal of the watch band components from the wrist watch and place the remaining watch body in a special carrier which can be carried in the user's pocket. For example, Fenyvessy, U.S. Pat. No. 2,511,105 discloses a stitched leather protective pouch which may be inserted or pinned to the pocket of the user. Parris, U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,117 shows a similar device in which the watch is suspended by a quick release strap.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,219 to Anderson teaches a wrist watch consisting of a flat flexible wrist encircling band having a inner surface adapted to cover the wrist watch fastening means carried by the band for adjustably fixing the band around the wearer's wrist, an opening centrally located in the band to allow the wearer to view the face of the watch, a flexible cover flap having one end thereof secured to the outer surface of the band, and an inner engaging fastening means attached to the lower surface of the second end of the cover flap and the upper surface of the band.
Wrist watch protector 1 has a wrist encircling band made from lower member 2 and the rear portion 3 of upper member 4. The forward portion 5 of the upper member serves as a flap to cover the watch crystal which would extend through opening 6 in the lower member. The upper member is fastened to the lower member by studs 10, 11, and 12 which separate the forward from the rear portions of the member. These studs are conventional fastening members which are applied by press fitting to the two members. Lower member 2 has an upper surface 13 and a lower surface 14. The upper member has an upper surface 15 and a lower surface 16. If desired, the lower member could also consist of the rear portion of the upper member. The wrist encircling band would be one entire piece and upper flap 5 would be a separate piece commencing at the fastening members.
To enable rapid and convenient use by the wearer, the wrist band and flap are held in place by quickly releasable fastening members which may be snap fasteners or other male-female type connectors.
As can be seen, numerous innovations for watch guards have been provided in the prior art that are adapted to be used. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, they would not be suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.